Crazy buddy stories - post your own

[lolarent]

Hi,

I don't know if this is the right place to post this. If it is wrong, could a mod please move it?

So, I was in Cancun for work for a week and decided to go Cenote diving. Well, the dive operation was not perfect, but that is another story. We were 3 divers (one German couple and I) with the dive master, and lined up in this order: dive master - husband - wife and I.

Clearly, plans weren't made perfectly before the dive, as the husband was filming the whole dive with his new camera, kind of leaving his wife to fend for herself.

As we swam from one cave to another (it was supposed to be cavern diving, but no daylight visible), we swam through the halocline. Vision got very blurred, and dive master and husband kept on going. Swimming behind the wife, I noticed that she started to get closer and closer to the ceiling. Wanting to avoid her hitting the ceiling, I decided to swim next to her and tap her shoulder pointing to her to go a bit deeper.

Well, the look in her eyes weren't very promising. She was distressed and likely closer and closer to panic as the seconds went by. Again, dive master and husband were blisfully unaware as they just kept swimming. I really wanted to hook up with those 2, as I did not know the cave system at all (and was not trained for it, but the dive was not what was promised). But with the wife getting close to panic, I had to make a decision.

So, I took her by the hand (her right hand so she would have her left hand for the BC inflator), squeezed her hand to indicate that I was there, and guided her a bit down (away from ceiling) and tried to close the distance between us and DM/husband.

Once husband was in the cave, he turned around, and wanted to film his wife coming in the cave. Well, he was in for a bit of a surprise, as she was holding another guys' hand

I thought, good, he now sees that there is a problem, and he will stick closer together to her. But no, oh no, he gives her the OK sign, she somewhat answers the sign, and he blasts off again . No problem, the wife was kind of cute, so I just kept holding her hand, and that is how we continued for the rest of the dive.

After the dive, husband, wife and I sit together (DM was doing another dive with a new group) and we talked about what happened. She was very appreciative of my token of help, and I hinted at the fact that as husband/wife, they should swim closer together so they can offer that kind of support to each other rather than have to rely on strangers...

At the end, she decided to go ahead with a 2nd dive (despite first not wanting to do so). Husband was much more attentive, stayed close to her. I could enjoy my dive a bit more (not having to worry about her), and we finished off the day with a good dive.

What are your stories?

 

[lolarent]

I must add to my story above that many, many mistakes were made, by all divers involved (including me).

1. We were not officially buddied up prior to the dive, so the husband's role was not clearly outlined.
2. I believe - in hindsight - that we were all diving above our certification. We all dove singles (except for DM) with single regulator. Clearly, not an ideal setup for cave diving.....
3. The dive was misrepresented as cavern dive. But within 3 minutes after starting the dive, the DM took us where no natural daylight was present.
4. Oh, no backup lights
5. No wonder there are multiple deaths every year in the Mexican cenote diving world...

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

5. No wonder there are multiple deaths every year in the Mexican cenote diving world...

Not arguing, just wondering if there are any web sources with details on annual deaths for divers in the cenotes?

 

[Dominantly]

That's a pretty interesting story, I chuckled at the part about it being OK because she was cute. Reminded me of the movie Super Troopers.

I have no real interesting buddy stories. What I do find amusing is that my buddy has some buoyancy issues (elevator), so I have on more then one occasion (usually tight passes over bottom) guided him along along the bottom, or over a reef, by his BCD, without him realizing it.

Rather then worry about keeping an eye on him at all times (will he float away?!?!) I keep him nice and level and "located". Heck maybe he does notice and just takes advantage of the ride!!

 

[TSandM]

Actually, the cenote dives have an extraordinary safety record, given that they ARE taking untrained divers into an overhead environment.

The dives do not leave the cavern zone -- but "daylight" can sometimes be a very small, dim glow behind you.

Halocline can be disorienting even to people with training and experience. This is one of the reasons I always post that very new divers simply shouldn't do these dives. They are not particularly difficult or stressful, but they are not for someone who is still spending much of his bandwidth on simply managing the act of diving.

Kudos to you for having stepped up and helped support and reassure the stressed diver.

I don't find that a crazy buddy story. The guy I dove with who, for no discernible reason whatsoever, sudden turned 180 degrees, swam away from me, and proceeding to crawl hand over hand to shore on the rocks, and later told me he had lost his buoyancy control because he was cold . . . now that's a crazy buddy story!

 

[phunk]

The dives do not leave the cavern zone -- but "daylight" can sometimes be a very small, dim glow behind you.

I have to disagree with that, I did Dos Ojos with a dive shop out of Playa del Carmen (can't remember the name right now), and we definitely left the cavern zone.

 

[TSandM]

Did you leave the cavern line? The cavern tour lines remain within the cavern zone. I remember having the same feeling about my Dos Ojos tour, but really, it is cavern. You may have to turn around, cover your light, and stare for a minute or so to find the light behind you, but it's there.

 

[Gunrock]

I have had lots of bad buddy experiences. Rarely dangerous, but certainly annoying. Typical behavior when I observe a new buddy:
-unwilling to use mask and/or snorkel for a surf entry
-uncontrolled descent, crashing into bottom
-kicking big clouds of sand throughout the dive
-kicking sand in front of my camera as I'm about to take a pic
-dangling consoles/regs
-poor air consumption
-fail to tell me when they've sucked down more than half the tank
-kick like an epileptic mule instead of using breath control to hover along a wall
-kicking to maintain buoyancy at the surface instead of inflating the bcd
-"experienced" diver with 100s of dives lacking basic buoyancy control
-"experienced" rescue diver unable to cope with mild surf

Then there was the "experienced" diver I asked to check my drysuit zipper and who told me it was good to go. It was actually broken. Suit full of water, two dead cell phones. (I do blame myself for this one.)

Last year I finally made a reliable friend with a boat, who in turn brought along another diver. It was lobster season so we all had catch bags and gauges. Or at least, I had a gauge. Diver #2 confessed that he sometimes takes short lobsters. I got the impression that "sometimes" meant "most of the time." I don't want anything to do with poachers. Not just because DFG can take all your gear, possibly including your boat, but just as a matter of principle I'd never take a short bug and I don't want to be near anyone who does that sort of thing.

Parting thought: the more someone brags about their gear and certs, the farther I want to be from them. There seems to be an inverse relationship between how much/loudly one talks on the boat, and their basic scuba skills underwater, not to mention fitness. Just my personal observation from many boat trips.

 

[Jax]

Parting thought: the more someone brags about their gear and certs, the farther I want to be from them. There seems to be an inverse relationship between how much/loudly one talks on the boat, and their basic scuba skills underwater, not to mention fitness. Just my personal observation from many boat trips.

I couldn't agree more!!!

 

[ScubaSteve]

Then there was the "experienced" diver I asked to check my drysuit zipper and who told me it was good to go. It was actually broken. Suit full of water, two dead cell phones. (I do blame myself for this one.)

Were they an experienced drysuit diver? I ask only because I have been that guy once. Years ago I was asked to zip up another diver's drysuit, which I did (or so I thought). I knew the diver but was not his buddy. Well, when I go back from my dive, I saw him and he almost politely told me that his suit flooded (leaked is a better term)......:doh:. I felt bad because I thought I had zipped it properly but this is the reason I would never ask another diver to check my DS zipper without giving them full instructions......actually I bought front entry so I would only have me to blame but I would not be as cavalier as that guy was because of my mistake (hopefully he learned from it as well ).

This was not my dive buddy but my very first post cert dive was on Catalina Island off the coast of La Romana in DR. We were a group (but diving with specific buddies) and I we were told that we were to keep up with the DM and not go deeper than 70'. Well it turns out that halfway through the dive I watched another diver just turn and swim into deeper waters. I watched for a bit as he swam away from the group (including his buddy). I signaled to my buddy that we should go get him which we did. I caught up, grabbed his fin and pointed toward the group. He signaled OK and we caught up to the others. On the surface I left it to the DM and his buddy to find out what the heck he was thinking and was just happy my buddy was better than that (we both certified that week so we both brand new divers).